Printing-press controller.



C. E. CARPENTER.

PRINTING PRESS CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED IULY 1913.

1,143,686. Patented June 22, 1915.

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rarnnr orrio CHARLES E. CARPENTER, OF NEW YORK, N. 55., ASSIGNOB TO THECUTLER -HAMMER MFG. 00., 0F MILWAUKEE, WISGOI TSIN, A CGRPOBATI-ON Q15WISCONSIN.

PRINTING-PRESS CONTROLLER.

icense,

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Julie 22, 1915,

Application filed July 1, 1913. .Serial No. 776,744.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l. CHAnLns E. CARPEN- TER, acitizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of NewYork and State of New York, have invented new and useful improvements inPrinting- Press Controllers, of which the following is a full, clear,concise,'and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing, forming a part of this specification. 7

My invention relates to improvements in controllers for motor operatedprinting presses.

More particularly my invention relates to controllers for pressesprovided with automatic feeding devices in which a feeder clutch isprovided forautomatically stopping the feeding device under certainconditions. Such clutches are commonly arranged to be tripped or thrownout automatically to stop the feeding mechanism under variousconditions. as, for instance, where a sheet feeds crooked or two or moresheets feed simultaneously or the sheets fail to feed. When the clutchis tripped the press may be left in operation but before the clutch isagain thrown in or reset the press must be slowed down in order toprevent breaking of gears and injury to the clutch which is commonly ofthe jaw-type. Accordingly, it has heretofore been the custom for theattendant upon tripping of the feeder clutch to first slow down themotor, then, upon rectifying the feed. to throw in or reset the clutchand thereafter manually restore the motor to its running speed. Thispractice, however, has been found to have numerous disadvantages,notably in the loss of time I required to perform the several operationsmentioned, and the increased attention required of the attendant.Further, in multicolor printing, it is necessary to feed the sheets at asubstantially fixed speed in order to insure registration of thedifferent colors. Accordingly, after the feeder clutch is thrown in, thepress must he quickly restored to normal speed in order to take thesheets at the proper time and where manual restoration is relied upon itcommonly occurs that the press is not accelerated within the propertime. This obviously causes a loss of the sheets which are fed into thepress at an abnormally low speed and also the loss of additional timeand labor Where the sheets have been previously run through the pressfor other colors.

My invention has among its objects to provide means for automaticallycontrolling the press upon operation of the feeder clutch to overcomethe aforesaid and other disadvantages of the manual control.

A further object is to provide a controller by means of which the pressmay be set for operation at any one of a number of different speeds andwhich will upon tripping of the clutch slow down the press to a definitespeed and upon the resetting of the clutch again accelerate the press tothe previously established speed automatically.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will hereinafter appear.

For the purpose of more fully and clearly disclosing the nature andadvantages of my invention 1 shall describe the embodiment thereofdiagrammatically illustrated in the accompanying drawing, it beingunderstood that my invention is susceptible of embodi- I ment in otherforms.

In the drawing, I have shown a feeder clutch l for the press to becontrolled, a motor 2 for driving the press, controlling devices 3, 4:and 5 for said motor, and a switch 6 connected to the movable member ofthe feeder clutch to govern certain of said motor controlling devices,as hereinafter set forth.

The feeder clutch 1 is illustrated as of a conventional form, it beingunderstood that in practice the same may assume any preferred form andbe associated with the press and its feeding mechanism in any preferredmanner, whereby when the two members 7 and 8 thereof are out ofengagement, as illustrated, the f eder mechanism will be disconnectedfrom the press. t should be also understood that whereas I have shownthe switch 6 connected to the member 7 of the feeder clutch by a simpleconnecting rod 9 for simplicity of illustration, said switch may beconnected to said clutch in any preferred manner. As illustrated, thearrangement is such that when the clutch is thrown out the switch 6 isopened and when the clutch isthrown in said switch is closed.

The motor is illustrated as of the shunt field type, being provided withan armature A and a shunt field winding F, but it should, of courseg beunderstood that the motor may be of any other preferred type.

The controlling devices 3, 4 and 5 comprise respectively anelectro-responsive switch for controlling the continuity of the motorcircuit, a manual field rheostat and an electro-responsive armaturerheostat. In

practice, these devices may be of any preferred type. As illustrated thefield rheostat comprises an arm 10, movable over a series of contacts11, to control the field resistance R. The rheostat 5, as illustrated,comprises a pivoted arm 12 movable over a series of contacts 13 tocontrol an armature resistance R and also movable over a se ment 1 1 andinto engagement with a contact 15. The arm 12 is adapted to be drawnupwardly by an operating solenoid 16 to gradually exclude the resistanceR from circuit. During its upward movement it also travels over thesegment 14, and, upon reaching final position disengages said segmentand engages contact 15. The purpose of the segment 1% and contact 15, aswill hereinafter appear, is to exclude the field rheostat 1 from circuituntil, all of the armature resistance R is removed from circuit and theninclude said field rheostat. Also, as will be hereinafter explained, therheostat 5 is employed for speed regulation and accordingly itsresistance R should be designed accordingly.

Tn addition to the foregoing elements I have illustrated a switch 17 forinitially starting and accelerating the motor through certain of theaforesaid controlling devices. For simplicity of illustration thisswitch has been shown as a single pole switch, but it should beunderstood that in practice it may be ofany preferred. form andconstitute one of a number of switches forming a control station.Further, I have shown another single pole switch 18, adapted, as will behereinafter set forth, to short-circuit the feeder clutch switch 6 andthereby enable manual acceleration of the press when the feeder clutchis tripped or thrown out.

The operation of the controller is as follows: Assuming the feederclutch to be thrown in or set, thereby closing the switch 6, the motormay be started and accelerated by closure of the control switch 17. Thiscompletes a circuit from supply line L by conductor 19 through saidswitch 17, by conductors 20 and 21 through the operating winding ofswitch 3, by conductor 22 to line L. The switch 3 thereupon closes andcompletes the motor circuit. The motor armature circuit may be tracedfrom line L through switch 3, by conductor 23 through the armature A, byconductor 24: through all of the resistance R, and rheostat arm 12, byconductor 25 to line L. The field circuit may be traced from conductor23 by conductor 26 through the field winding F, by conductor 27 tosegment 14 of rheostat 5, thence through rheostat arm 12 to line L,

as already traced. The motor is thereby set in operation and thereafteris automatically accelerated by the rheostat 5, the solenoid 16 of saidrheostat being energized by closure of switch 17. The circuit of thesolenoid 16 may be traced from switch 17, by conductor 20 through saidsolenoid, by conductor 28 through feeder clutch switch 6, by conductor29 to line L. The rheostat 5, upon energization, gradually removes theresistance R from circuit, thereby automatically bringing the motor upto a certain speed. Also, upon excluding the resistance R from circuitthe arm 12 of rheostat 5 engages contact 15, thereby connecting thefield rheostat at in circuit. This circuit extends from conductor 27through arm 4 to the first of the series of contacts 11, by conductor 30to contact 15 and rheostat arm 12. Accordingly, if the arm 4 now bemoved to the right it will include resistance R in the field circuit andthereby further accelerate the motor. Of course, the rheostat 4: may beadjusted to include any desired amount of the resistance R in accordancewith the speed desired, and in practice may be adj usted prior totheoperation of the armature rheostat 5, in which event the desired amountof field resistance would be automatically inserted by the armaturerheostat at the end of its movement.

Assuming now that the motor has been accelerated to operate the press atthe desired speed, the tripping of the clutch will result in thefollowing operation: The switch 6 will first be opened, and, inasmuch asthis switch is included in the circuit of the solenoid 16, it will causedeenergization of the rheostat The rheostat 5 upon deener 'izationoperates to first exclude the field rheostat 4: from circuit andthereafter reinsert the resistance R in the armature circuit. The switch3 is unaffected by the switch 6 and accordingly the foregoing operationreduces the motor speed to a definite value, but allows the motor tocontinue to operate at its reduced speed. The speed re duction may, ofcourse, be changed as de sired, but should be so calculated as to enablethe clutch to be thrown in or reset without danger of injuring the sameor breaking the g ars.

Assume now that it is desired to throw in the clutch and againaccelerate the motor. A single operation suffices for both. The throwingin of the clutch closes the switch 6, which thereupon energizes therheostat 5. The rheostat 5 then operates automatically to first excludethe resistance R from the armature circuit of the motor and thereafterinclude the field rheostat in circuit, as heretofore set forth. Thus themotor is automatically restored to the same speed at which it wasoperating upon tripping of the feeder clutch, and furthermore, itsacceleration is started immediately upon the resetting of the clutch.Accordingly the motor is insured restoration to its previouslyestablished speed within a fixed period afterresetting of the clutchaccording to the time adjustment of the rheostat.

It will thus be apparent that the controller illustrated automaticallycontrols the operation of the press as desired without any attentionwhatsoever from the attendant except the resetting or throwing in of theclutch; that upon tripping of the clutch it slows down the pressautomatically to a definite speed and that upon the resetting orthrowing in of the clutch restores the press automatically to itspreviously estab lished running speed without delay.

Under some conditions it might be desirable to temporarily acceleratethe press while the clutch 1 is out and the switch 18 is provided forthis purpose. It is in shunt to the feeder clutch switch 6 andaccordingly its closure results in energizing the rheostat 5independently of said feeder clutch switch.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with the feeder clutch of a printing press, of speedgoverning means for the press controlled by said clutch to slow down andagain accelerate the press automatically upon certain operations of saidclutch.

2. The combination with the feeder clutch of a printing press, of meansaccelerating the press, said means being controlled by said clutch toautomatically slow down the press when said clutch is tripped andautomatically accelerate the press when said clutch is reset.

3. The combination with the feeder clutch of a printing press, of meansfor starting the press and establishing any one of a number ofpredetermined running speeds therefor, said means including deceleratingand accelerating means controlled by said clutch to slow down the presswhen said clutch is thrown out and to again accelerate the press to theestablished speed when said clutch is subsequently thrown in.

4. The combination with the feeder clutch of a printing press, of meansfor effecting operation of the press at any one of a plurality of speedsincluding electro-responsive means controlled by said clutch switch toslow down the press to a definite speed when the clutch is thrown outand to subsequently accelerate the press to the previously establishedrunning speed when the clutch is again thrown in.

5. The combination with the feeder clutch of a printing press, of amotor for operat- 6. The combination with the feeder clutch of aprinting press, of means controlled thereby for slowing down andsubsequently accelerating the press, and means governing said formermeans to accelerate the press independently of said feeder clutch.

7 The combination with the feeder clutch of a printing press, of meanscontrolled by said clutch to slow down and subsequently accelerate thepress upon certain operations of said clutch, and manual meanscontrolling said former means to accelerate the.

press independently of said clutch.

8. The combination with the feeder clutch of a printing press, of aswitch governed by the position of said clutch, a motor for operatingthe press, an electro-responsive speed controller for said motorgoverned by said switch, and means independent of said switch forcontrolling the continuity of the circuit of said motor.

9. In a printing press controller, the combination with a driving motor,an electroresponsive speed controller for said motor, a feeder clutchswitch governing said controller, means independent of said switch forcontrolling the continuity of the circuit of said motor and manual meansfor governing said electro-responsive speed controller independently ofsaid feeder clutch switch.

10. In a controller for printing presses, in combination, a motor foroperating the press, speed controlled means for said motor including an'electro-responsive rheostat and a manually operable rheostat adapted tobe excluded from circuit by said former rheostat and a feeder clutchswitch governing said electro-responsive rheostat to automatically slowdown the motor upon one operation of the clutch and thereafterautomatically accelerate said motor to the speed determined by saidmanual rheostat upon another operation of the clutch.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presenceof two witnesses.

CHARLES E. CARPENTER.

Witnesses OnAs. F. ADAMS, CnAs. CHANDLER.

Sepies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

